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Grace & Peace: Revelation 58

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound” (Rev. 8:2–6).

The seven seals of the scroll have been opened, and we come now to the next round—the seven trumpets. Seven angels stood before God (which would be standing before the throne), and each was given a trumpet (v. 2).

Another angel came, and because His functions at the altar are priestly in nature, most commentators assume that this is a representation of Christ in another of His offices. Another argument for this is that it would be odd for a mere creature to be presenting the prayers of the saints to God. That is reserved for our great High Priest. Still less would it be appropriate for a mere angel to answer those prayers.

At any rate, this angel comes and stands at the altar, carrying a golden censer. He is given much incense, which He mixes with the prayers of the saints, and presents it on the golden altar before the throne (v. 3). The smoke of the incense, mixed together with the prayers of the saints, ascend up to God from the hand of the angel (v. 4). And then, in an obvious answer to prayer, the angel fills up the censer with fire from the altar, and casts it all down upon the earth (v. 5). As a consequence, there was a dramatic impact on the earth—voices, lightning, thunder, and an earthquake (v. 5). With that preliminary judgment completed, the seven other angels prepared themselves to sound their trumpets (v. 6).

The prayers represented here are no doubt the prayers of the martyred saints who were under that same altar back at the fifth seal. They were crying out for vengeance, and were told to be patient for “a little season” (Rev. 6:11). That season of waiting is apparently now complete, and it is time for their prayers to be answered.

Given that the prayers being answered here are prayers from first century martyrs, we may conclude that this battery of judgment coming from the seven trumpets are judgments that are going to be falling on Jerusalem in the course of the Jewish War (A.D. 66-70).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 57

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” (Rev. 8:1).

We now come to the seventh and final seal of the scroll. Given the dramatic nature of what happened when the first six were opened, we are expecting some sort of earth shattering explosion when the final seal is broken. But . . . nothing. Nothing but silence.

There are two possible scriptural settings that may be in view here. One is that just a few verses down, an angel is going to offer up incense, and that incense is representative of the prayers of all the saints (Rev. 8:3). These prayers are offered up on the golden altar that is before the throne. A few chapters earlier, when the fifth seal was opened, things were not silent in Heaven when the souls under that altar were crying out to the Lord to avenge their blood. Now it appears that an angel has gathered up their prayers and is presenting them as incense, and everything is quiet for that formal presentation.

This appears to match the custom of the Temple. When Zacharias is serving in the Temple, during the time that the incense was being presented, the people were waiting outside quietly, silently praying. “And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense” (Luke 1:10). “And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple” (Luke 1:21). Here an angel is presenting their prayers in the form of incense, and that presentation takes about half an hour.

Another possible allusion is to the siege of Jericho. The opening of the seventh seal here is followed by the blowing of trumpets (Rev. 8:6), which is what happened when the walls of Jericho fell. Not only so, but prior to blowing of those trumpets, the Israelites marched around that fated city in silence. And so in both instances you have silence > trumpets > conquest of God’s enemies.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 56

Douglas Wilson on

“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. 7:9–17).

Having heard the number of 144,000, John turns, looks and sees this innumerable host. The earlier number is specifically cited as being numbered as Israel, and this throng is from all nations, peoples, languages, etc. Some believe this necessitates taking them as distinct groups. I follow the other view which takes the symbolic number of Israel as representing the innumerable host of the Church. The previous group was sealed on earth and the latter group is saved in Heaven.

So this great multitude is dressed in white, symbolizing purity, and they are holding palm branches, which symbolizes victory. Dressed this way, and holding their palms, they stood before the throne and the Lamb, and they cried out. How loud might an innumerable host be? They cried out in order to ascribe salvation to God, the God who was seated on the throne, as well as to the Lamb. At that point the angels, the 24 elders, and the four living creatures all prostrated themselves in order to worship God. And they said Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

One of the 24 elders asked John if he knew the identity of the great crowd. He confessed that he did not. The elder says that they are the ones who came out of the great tribulation. If this crowd is identified with the church through the ages, this means the great tribulation refers to something bigger than the tribulation that was to befall Jerusalem in just a few years. Although the fall of Jerusalem is a theme of Revelation, the composition of the very global crowd appears to preclude that reading.

They came out of the great tribulation—the church militant—and are those who washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. They are now the church triumphant, palm branches in hand. They are before the throne, and the one who sits on the throne dwells among them as Emmanuel. This is plainly the company of the saved. They will not hunger or thirst anymore. The sun shall not beat down on them, or any heat. The Lamb will feed them, and lead them to waters, and God will wipe away every tear.

One more thing should be mentioned, which is that this section of Revelation is rich in references from the prophet Isaiah.

“They shall not hunger nor thirst; Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, Even by the springs of water shall he guide them” (Is. 49:10).

“He will swallow up death in victory; And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: For the Lord hath spoken it” (Is. 25:8).

“And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, And upon her assemblies, A cloud and smoke by day, And the shining of a flaming fire by night: For upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, And for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain” (Is. 4:5–6).

In short, this is the language of salvation that applies to all God’s people.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 55

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand” (Rev. 7:4–8).

So now we come to the 144,000. Before getting to what that number represents, we should first consider how it was derived. A basic military unit in ancient Israel was a chiliad, a thousand men (Num. 31:4-5). If you take the number of tribes, which is 12, and square that number, you get 144. Multiply by a thousand, and you have a symbolic number for the host of Israel.

Another thing we should take note of is the fact that the tribes are listed out of their usual order. The tribe of Judah comes first, the tribe of the Christ. The tribe of Dan is missing, and Joseph is listed as a tribe instead of Ephraim. Some have assumed that Dan and Ephraim, tribes that had a special problem with idolatry, are missing for that reason.

Among those who believe the book of Revelation was largely fulfilled in the first century, the common assumption is that the 144,000 is a number that symbolizes the full and complete number of Jewish Christians who escaped death when the city of Jerusalem was demolished in 70 A.D. This has the advantage of keeping the interpretation anchored in the first century, where the action of this book largely is.

But at the same time, there is an indication of a much more cosmic interpretation, which is that the number represents the entire number of the elect. The argument for this is that John heard the number 144,000, while in the next verse, John turned and looked and saw a multitude that no one could number. This appears to be the elect, and it also appears to be a visual representation of the symbolic number he had just heard. This is the approach I would favor.

Some think that it is odd that the Christian church would be listed by tribe, but it is symbolically fitting. There is a reason why Christ selected 12 apostles. The church is identified with the true Israel elsewhere (Gal. 6:16; Eph. 2:12).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 54

Ben Zornes on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (Rev. 7:1–3).

Six seals have been opened, and before the seventh is broken, the apostle John gives us a reprise of the first four seals. You recall that the first four seals were the destructive forces of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Here we have four angels at the four corners of the earth, holding back the destructive “four winds” of the earth. We can make this connection because in the parallel passage in Zechariah 6:3-5, we have the four horsemen also, but they are identified with spirits or winds. “And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits [winds] of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth” (Zech. 6:5). Remember that God makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire (Ps. 104:4; Heb. 1:7).

As John has been described the destruction that is going to be visited upon Jerusalem, the natural question arises. Will God’s people be spared? Yes. The Lord told His disciples to flee when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies (Luke 21:20-21), which they did, taking refuge in Pella. This protection is signified by means of an angel marking God’s elect on the forehead. What God did in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. had an earlier parallel when that same city was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Before that earlier judgment God sent an angel to mark His own on their foreheads (Eze. 9).

The forehead is significant. Holiness to the Lord was bound to Aaron’s forehead (Ex. 28:36-38). In a way directly contrary, the name of the great Harlot was bound to her forehead ((Rev. 17:5). The mark of the beast, without which no one could buy or sell, was a mark on the right hand or on the forehead (Rev. 13:17). This was a gross parody of what God required of His people, which was to bind His law on their right hands or on their foreheads (Dt. 6:8). Our allegiance to Jesus Christ should be as obvious to the world as our forehead is.

The previous chapter of Revelation had concluded with the pressing question—who is able to stand in the day of God’s great wrath. In a time like this, that is the question. John has Malachi 3:2 in mind, and the answer to that question is the seal of God. So four angels were holding back the four winds of the previously described destruction on the land, and those angels were told to restrain the judgment until a fifth angel, ascending out the east like a rising sun, with a seal in his hand, would be able to apply that seal to God’s own children. They were told not to hurt the earth, the sea, or the trees, until the seal of God had been applied to the sons and daughters of God. God never sends His judgments in before He sends the sealing angel in.

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